tonight our chief science correspondent robert bazell has a look at what's behind these new numbers. >> reporter: the latest numbers show that autism diagnoses have grown to the point where parents report that fully 1 in 50 school age children has autism. aiden myers was diagnosed two years ago. >> i think it's scary. i think that we obviously need to figure out what is going on. >> reporter: hello, aiden. how do you do? no one doubts aiden myers's diagnosis. he is clearly not terribly disabled. he was late starting to speak and he's working to overcome learning disabilities at the reed academy in new jersey. >> awesome job. >> reporter: the latest numbers from a telephone survey with the federal government showed the highest increases occurring in mild cases like aiden's along the spectrum of autism disorders as opposed to children who are severely withdrawn socially and often unable to speak. the government survey find that is the reported number of children with autism grew from 1.16% in 2007 to 2% now. that means about 1 million children in the united states are now diagnosed wit